I. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to a flavored cereal product and to a process and apparatus for the production thereof. More specifically, this invention relates to a flavored cereal product comprising an cereal product to the surface of which is adhered a particulate flavoring composition.
II. Description of The Prior Art
One major market for cereal products is of course breakfast cereals. Such breakfast cereals may be in the form of flakes or in shredded form. Alternatively the cereals may be made by gun-puffing the cereal or by extruding a cereal product at relatively high temperatures with a sudden release of pressure, so that the cereal product "puffs" to give a product of low density. Such cereal products can be made with a crunchy texture which makes them highly attractive for use as breakfast cereals. However, unless some additional flavorant is incorporated into the cereal product, its taste tends to be rather bland. Accordingly, in order to enhance the consumer appeal of the product, especially to children, manufacturers desire to add flavorants to cereal products. In theory, one might incorporate a flavorant into an extruded cereal product simply by mixing the flavorant with the dough from which the cereal product is prepared so that the flavorant becomes incorporated prior to extrusion of the cereal product. However, in practice such incorporation of the flavorant prior to the extrusion is likely to be beset with serious problems because the temperatures and pressure changes involved in the extrusion process may cause chemical changes in the flavorant. Moreover, incorporating the flavorant into the dough would result in uniform distribution of the flavorant throughout the cereal product, which effectively results in wasting most of the flavorant, since the flavorant in the interior of the cereal product will not be released, or hence tasted, during consumption of the product. Accordingly, in flavoring an extruded cereal product it is desirable to concentrate most of the flavorant on the surface, where it can exert its maximum sensory effect. With the other forms of cereal product mentioned above, it is in practice again most convenient to flavor the cereal product after the product reaches its final physical form.
The prior art describes numerous methods for combining one food with a flavoring material, and for coating food products with flavoring or other materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,020,257 to Dickins describes a fruit-flavored breakfast cereal comprising a cereal in flaked or shredded form and a partially-dried fruit in finely divided condition, the two being united by heating the fruit until the natural cementitious constituents of the fruit are rendered sticky, so that the fruit adheres to the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,689 issued July 26, 1960, to Pikal describes a caramel-coated apple produced by applying a surface coating of caramel confection to an unpeeled apple and then embedding a overcoated layer of a comminuted confection, for example, a nut meat, in the layer of caramel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,603 issued Apr. 22, 1982 to Sortwell describes frozen food products, such as fish, poultry and vegetable products, suitable for micro-wave or oven cooking, which are prepared by coating frozen portions of the food products with an edible oil containing a moisture-absorbant and then applying to the coated portions finely divided hygroscopic, crisp, particulate materials such as toasted cereal or carbohydrates, so that upon cooking of the food product the outer layer gives an appearance of a fat-fried product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,984 issued May 16, 1978 to Gilbertson, describes a process for coating breakfast cereal in which the cereal is first coated with honey and/or corn syrup and then a finely divided edible material, which can be protein, wheat germ, dextrose or caseinate, is sprinkled on the sticky, syrup-coated cereal. The solid, finely-divided coating material serves to keep the pieces of cereal separate from one another, since the honey and corn syrup used are practically impossible to dry on the surface of the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,790 issued Sept. 15, 1981 to Bruelle, describes a storage-stable confection produced by coating a core of cereal, dried fruit or nuts with alternative layers of chocolate and gasified candy. To protect the core from the fats in the chocolate, the core may be caramelized by coating it with a sugar before applying the chocolate and gasified candy. The product is stated to provide all the desired qualities of crunchiness, sizzle and chocolate flavor.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,196,395 issued Apr. 9, 1914, to Kellogg, describes a process for candy-coating cereal in which the cereal is mixed with a hot sugar solution containing a fat or oil; the sugar solution can be in the form of molasses, glucose or cane sugar. The process is designed to permit the sugar-coating of relatively fragile cereal products, such as flakes, which may be damaged by other coating techniques, and is also stated to give the product good storage stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,333,442 issued Nov. 2, 1943 to Rex, describes the coating of a puffed cereal product with a honey-flavored candy coating. The coating is produced by contacting the cereal product with a hot solution containing sugar, honey flavoring and hardening agents. Following coating, the coated cereal is cooled very rapidly to produce separation of the individual grains of sugar. It is stated that the process produces a hard coating which maintains its integrity and texture for indefinitely long periods of time without disintegration or conversion into a different form of sugar.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,022 issued July 30, 1968 to Vollink et al, describes a breakfast cereal containing freeze-dried fruit which is not attached to the cereal, the two simply being mixed, so that the fruit can be rehydrated when the fruit is immersed in milk.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,981 issued Feb. 9, 1971 to Roe et al, describes a method of coating a breakfast cereal in which the cereal is first coated with a binder, preferably sugar syrup, and while the binder is still tacky a dry flavoring composition in the form of a dry or powdered ice cream mix is sprinkled onto the surface of the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,718 issued Jan. 26, 1971 to Chivers, describes a process for coating breakfast cereal or popcorn in which the substrate is first coated with a sugar slurry made by mixing ground particles of candy floss with a limited amount of water. The wet, slurry-coated cereal or popcorn may then have ground candy floss and/or ground nut meat sprinkled on its surface. Finally, the coated cereal is heated so as to fuse the candy floss into a continuous glaze surrounding the particles of cereal or popcorn. This process is stated to endow the cereal with the color and flavor of the candy floss, and also to permit coating of difficult, fragile materials, such as cereal flakes, which cannot conveniently be coated by other processes using heavy sugar syrups.
Belgian Pat. No. 898885, published Aug. 10, 1984, and claiming priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 522,428 filed Aug. 11, 1983, describes a process for the preparation of a filled composite food product; in this process a mixture of large dry solid pieces having clear external surfaces and small pieces are placed in a receptacle, a non-sticky, low viscosity liquid is charged into the receptacle, and the resultant bed of large and small pieces is agitated so that the small pieces slide over the surfaces of the large pieces and become concentrated in the hollows or cavities of the large pieces. The resulting composite pieces are then dried so that the small pieces become bound in the hollows or cavities of the large pieces. This method has the disadvantage that, because it depends upon the small pieces sliding into the hollows or cavities of the large pieces, it is not suitable for coating large pieces in forms which lack such hollows or cavities.
There is one important distinction between breakfast cereals and most other foods as regards the environment in which the food is placed immediately prior to consumption which affects the choice of method for flavoring the cereal, namely that breakfast cereals are normally immersed in milk before consumption, whereas other foods, for example, the caramel-coated apples, disclosed in Pikal, are normally eaten dry. Although the point does not seem to have been appreciated in the prior art, this immersion of the breakfast cereal in milk offers the possibility of greatly enhancing the effectiveness of a flavorant incorporated in a breakfast cereal. If the flavorant could be applied to the surface of the cereal in such a way that, upon immersion of the cereal into milk, at least part of the flavorant would dissolve in the milk, this release of flavorant into the milk would lead to a greatly enhanced flavor sensation by the consumer of the cereal, as compared with a flavorant which remained on the surface of the cereal despite immersion in the milk. Furthermore, if the flavorant could be applied to the cereal in such a way that it would dissolve in the milk, flavorants could be used which would otherwise be unacceptable because their presence on the surface of milk-saturated cereal would produce a texture unacceptable to the consumer. Accordingly, this invention provides a flavor-coated cereal product in which a flavorant is present on the surface of a cereal product in such a form that it will at least partially dissolve upon immersion of the cereal product in milk. The present invention also provides a process and apparatus for the production of such a flavor-coated cereal product.